Tear gas gun



Jan-1 `1711967 R. G. ADRIAN ETAL 3,298,125

TEAR GAS GUN Filed Sept. 20, 1965 56 sa a# 28 6 ROBERT G,ADR\AN WILLISON L. LOWER,

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3,298,125 TEAR GAS GUN Robert G.` Adrian,; 2915 Waldorf Ave., Camden, NJ.

08105, i1and` Willison L. Lower, 2421 45th St., Pennsauken,wN;.I. 08110 Filed Sept. 20,1965, Ser. No. 488,424 4 Claims. t. (Cl. 421) This invention relates to a tear gas gun. More particularly, this invention relates to a tear gas gun having a trigger `release mechanism forring an explosive tear Heretofore, pocket type `tear gas guns have included a tiring pin that is released by finger engaging a handle mounted thereon and moving it out of its cocked or safety position into` a position where it can be released to fire an explosive cartridge of tear gas. Such tear gas guns suffers from the defect that they are dithcult and slow to operate because the user must directly overcome the resilient bias on the firing pin in moving it from the cocked to the` ring position.` Since the force created by the resilient bias lon the ring pin may be quite substantial, it is Often di'cult to release `the handle at its fully cocked position. The tendency is to allow the firing pin to slide forward towards the cartridge before releasing the same. The result is that the firing pin may strike the cartridge with insufficient force to cause ignition of the primer. This is a substantial disadvantage because the user often has only one chance to re the tear gas gun,

It] therefore is an object of the present invention to providei a novel release mechanism for a tear gas gun that permits a quick and full release of the ring pin.

Itl is another object of the present invention to provide la novel tear gas gun.`

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novel tear `gas gun having a trigger release mechanism.

It is yet` another object of the present invention to provide` a tear gas gun having a novel trigger release mechanism.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

For the `purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings a form which is presently preferred; it being understood, however, that this invention isnot limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.

FIGURE l is a top view of a tear gas gun in accordance with the present invention showing the ring pin in its cocked position.

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the tear gasgun shown in FIGURE l taken along the line 2-2.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged partial longitudinal sectional View of the tear gas gun shown in FIGURE 2 taken along helIIlC 3 3.

FIGURE 4 is a transverse sectional View of the tear gas` gun shown in FIGURE 2 taken along t-he line 4-4.

FIGURE 5 is a top view of the tear gas gun in accordaucetwith the present invention showing the firing pin in itsreleased position.

FIGURE 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of the tear gas gun shown in FIGURE 5 taken along the line 6--6.

FIGURE 7 is a transverse sectional View of the tear gasgun shown in FIGURE 6 taken along the line 77.

Referring `now to the drawing in detail, wherein like numeralsindicate like elements, there is shown in FIG- URE 1 a tear gas gun designated `generally as 10.

As. shown, the tear gas gun 10 includes a barrel 12 having a longitudinal bore 14 therein. Although the outer.: periphery of the barrel 12 is illustrated as square in `cross section, it will be clearly recognized iby those skilled in the art that other peripheral shapes such as elliptical or cylindrical may be used. The -barrel 12 is ,y .waited States Patent C open at one end and closed by the wall 16 at its opposite end.

As shown, the bore 14 is cylindrical and extends the length of barrel 12 coaxial with its longitudinal axis. The surface of bore 14 is smooth except adjacent t-he oper end of barrel 12 where a plurality of threads 18 are provided. The threads 18 are of sufficient length to receive mating male threads on the cartridge 20 and on tht periphery of the retaining wall 22. The purpose anc` function of retaining wall 22 will be described below.

A ring pin designated generally as 24 is reciprocabl) mounted within the bore 14. Firing pin 24 comprises a..

cylindrical piston 26 having an outside diameter approximately equal to the diameter of bore 14 and a pin 2E axially mounted on the piston 26. A resilient expansior spring 30 is positioned within the bore 14 intermediate the piston 26 and wall 16. The spring 30 normally biases the piston 26 toward the wall 22.

Retaining wall 22 comprises a disk having a centra aperture 32 and a threaded periphery. The threads or the periphery of wall 22 are the same size as the threat 18 in the barrel 12. Accordingly, the wall 22 may bc threadedly mounted within the barrel 12. If desired a slot 34 may be provided on one face of the wall 21 so that a screwdriver may be used to thread the wal 22 into the barrel 12. The aperture 32 is coaxial Witt the longitudinal axis of the bore 14, Accordingly, the spring 30 will bias the pin 28 through the apertures 32 The threads 18 provide a means for removably mount ing the tear gas cartridge 20 on the barrel 12. As shown the cartridge 20 comprises a casing 36 having male threads thereon for threadedly engaging the threads 1E within the barrel 12. A primer cap 38 is supported adja` cent the rear end of the casing 36. In the embodimen shown, the primer cap 38 is adapted to be center fire( by a force such as is provided .by the pin 28 when pro jected forward by the force of spring 30. A tear gai powder is held within the casing 36 by a wad 42. Th: construction of the cartridge 20 including the type o: tear gas power 40 and primer cap 38 is wel-l known it the art and need not be described in further detail.

A I -shaped slot 44 is provided in the side wall of thc barrel 12. The slot 44 consists of a long leg 46, a shor leg 48 and a transverse leg 50. The I-shaped slot 4 provides an opening into the bore 14 through which z cooking arm 52 extends. As best shown in FIGURE 4 the cocking arm 52 is threadedly mounted in a side wal of piston 26. The cocking arm 52 supports an enlarge( button-like head 54 on its free end, The head 54 pro vides a means whereby the cooking arm 52 may be con veniently engaged by the users iinger to move the tiring pin 24 into its cocked position within the short leg 48.

The tear gas gun 10 is shown with its tiring pin 2A in the cocked position in FIGURES l, 2 and 3. Thus the piston 26 has been moved rearwardly against thi bias of spring 30 which is thereby compressed. To retaii the tiring pin in the cocked position, the cocking arm 52 has been moved through the transverse slot 50 into thl short slot 48. The cylindrical piston 56, of course, rotate: within the bore 14 to permit the displacement of cockini arm 52 through the transverse slot 50. The bias of sprint 30 tends to force the ring pin 28 toward the cartridgl 20 but this is prevented by the engagement of cocking arm 52 with the end of short leg 48. This is best showl in FIGURE 3.

With the ring pin disposed as described above, thi tear gas gun 10 is ready for firing. In previous tear ga guns, firing was accomplished by gripping the head 54 wit] a finger and moving the cooking arm 52 through the trans verse slot 50 until it was aligned with the long leg 46 The head 54 was then released and the spring 30 allower to rapidly accelerate the piston 26 and pin 28 toward th rtridge 20. The pin 28 would strike the primer cap 38 ereby causing the primer to ignite and drive the tear s 40 and wad 42 from the casing 36. This type of lease mechanism suffers from the defect that there is a ndency to permit the bias of spring 30 to move the piston slowly toward the cartridge 20 after the cocking arm y has been aligned with the leg 46 but before the head 54 .s been released. The result is that the firing pin 24 may t be accelerated to its fullest extent before impact with e primer cap 38. A misfire may therefore result. In ew of the purposes to which the tear gas gun is priarily intended, i.e., protection against assailants, itis posle that there may not be sufficient time to re-cock and -re the gun 10. In order to overcome the foregoing deficiency, and to iure that the ring pin 24 is accelerated to the fullest tent by the spring 20, a novel trigger release mechanism i has been provided. The trigger release mechanism 56 mprises a slide 58 reciprocably mounted within a recess in the wall of barrel 12. The recess 60 guides the de 58 in alignment with and over the short leg 48. The de 58 is held within the recess 60 by means of a readed fastener 62 that is threadedly engaged with the yrrel 12. The head of fastener 62 overlies the slide 58 it is spaced slightly away from it so as to permit ciprocable movement within the recess 60. The fastener extends through a cut-out portion V64 of the slide 58. 1e ends of cut-out portion 64 limit the movement of the de 58. As best shown in FIGURES 3 and 5, the end of slide adjacent the short leg 48 forms an acute angle with e longitudinal axis of the slide 58. In other words, the d 66 of slide 58 forms a cam in which the surface ereof extends away from the wall 16 as it gets closer to e leg 46. The end of slide 58 thereby forms a camng surface 66 which will impart a rearward and transrse force to the cocking arm 52 when it is 'brought into gagement with it. A linger handle 68 is mounted on e opposite end of slide 58. The trigger release mechanism 56 operates as follows: With the ring pin 24 cocked as shown in FIGURE 1, a handle 68 is engaged and moved rearwardly as indited by the arrow in FIGURE 5. The handle 68 is made ge enough to provide a good finger grip for the user. r this purpose, it has been found that a diameter of proximately three-eighths of an inch permits the user more than adequately engage the handle 68. As the de 58 is moved toward wall 16, the camming surface 66 gages the cocking arm 52 and biases it rearwardly and :o the transverse slot 50. This is illustrated by the `tted lines and arrows in FIGURE 5. To continue the )vement of the cocking arm 52 through the transverse t 50, the end of wall 70 which defines the bight porn of the I -shaped slot 44 has been rounded as shown in GURE 3. This rounded end 72 has a generally angudirection that is away from the wall 16 as the end approaches the long leg 46 of slot 44. The result is it the end 72 is a continuation of the cam surface 6,6. lus, the cam 66 biases the cocking arm 52 over to the lll end 72. When this position is reached, the force spring 30 causes the cocking arm to slip along the unded surface 72 and into alignment with the long leg of slot 44. Once the cocking arm slides out of engement with the end wall 72, the spring 30 freely celerates the piston 26 and pin 28 toward the primer cap 38. Since the arm is fully released as soon as it slides into alignment with the long leg 46, the firing pin 24 is accelerated to its maximum extent by the spring 30 prior to striking the primer cap 38. Moreover, the trigger release mechanism releases the firing pin 24 from the cocked position much morerrapidly than can be done by manually engaging the head 54.

The present invention may be embodied in other speciiic forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and, accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims, rather than to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of the invention.

We claim: v

1. A tear gas gun comprising a barrel, a longitudinal bore within said barrel, a firing pin reciprocably mounted within said bore, means for mounting an explosive tear gas cartridge adjacent one end of said bore, resilient means for normally biasing said firing pin towards said cartridge mounting means, a I -shaped slot in a wall of said barrel, the longer leg of'said slot extending along the longitudinal axis of said barrel, a cocking arm mounted on said tiring pin and extending through said slot, a reciprocable slide mounted on said barrel, at least a portion of said slide being reciprocable over the shorter leg of said slot, said slide including a cam for engaging said cocking arm and moving it into said longer leg, and a handle on said slide.

2. A tear gas gun comprising a barrel, a longitudinal bore within said barrel, a tiring pin reciprocably mounted within said bore, said firing pin including a piston slidably received within said bore and a pin axially mounted on said piston, means for mounting an explosive tear gas cartridge adjacent one end of said bore in axial alignment with said iiring pin, a spring for normaly biasing said firing pin piston towards said cartridge mounting means, a I- shaped slot in the wall of said barrel, said I-shaped slot including a long and short leg extending along the longitudinal axis of said barrel and a transverse leg joining the ends of said long and short leg, a cocking arm mounted on said tiring pin piston and extending through said slot, an elongated reciprocable slide mounted on said barrel, one end of said slide being reciprocable over the short leg of said slot, said one end including a cam for engaging said cocking pin and moving it through said transverse leg and into said long leg, and a handle mounted on said slide.

3. A tear gas gun in accordance with claim 2 wherein said means for mounting an explosive tear gas cartridge adjacent one end of said bore includes an internal thread within said bore adjacent said one end, and firing pin retaining means within said bore, said firing pin retaining means comprsing a disk-shaped wall, screw threads on the periphery of said disk for matingly engaging said screw threads within said bore, said wall being threaded into said bore, and a central opening in said bore for receiving the axial pin mounted on said piston.

4. A tear gas gun in accordance with claim 2 wherein the end of the barrel wall delining the bight of said I-shaped slot is at an angle to a closed end of said bore and toward said long leg whereby said cocking arm is cammed through said transverse leg.

No references cited.

BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner. 

1. A TEAR GAS GUN COMPRISING A BARREL, A LONGITUDINAL BORE WITHIN SAID BARREL, A FIRING PIN RECIPROCABLY MOUNTED WITHIN SAID BORE, MEANS FOR MOUNTING AN EXPLOSIVE TEAR GAS CARTRIDGE ADJACENT ONE END OF SAID BORE, RESILIENT MEANS FOR NORMALLY BIASING SAID FIRING PIN TOWARDS SAID CARTRIDGE MOUNTING MEANS, A J-SHAPED SLOT IN A WALL OF SAID BARREL, THE LONGER LEG OF SAID SLOT EXTENDING ALONG THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID BARREL, A COCKING ARM MOUNTED ON SAID FIRING PIN AND EXTENDING THROUGH SAID SLOT, A RECIPROCABLE SLIDE MOUNTED ON SAID BARREL, AT LEAST A PORTION OF SAID SLIDE BEING RECIPROCABLE OVER THE SHORTER LEG OF SAID SLOT, SAID SLIDE INCLUDING A CAM FOR ENGAGING SAID COCKING ARM AND MOVING IT INTO SAID LONGER LEG, AND A HANDLE ON SAID SLIDE. 